So said Mahatma Gandhi, a very wise man.
A couple days ago, during a wild winter storm here in the Pacific Northwest, a tornado touched down in a small local town and selectively destroyed a block of homes. Tornadoes are very rare around here, so the usual discussion about climate change erupted.
Suffice to say, I have no doubt that humans have contributed to the drastic changes we now experience in our environment. Perhaps it is too late to return to a more innocent age ecologically, but it is dangerously naive to believe we can continue with business as usual and expect to not suffer.
In a recent post on his excellent blog Ecosophia , John Michael Greer makes the salient point that we have distanced ourselves too much from nature. If anthropogenic climate change is real (and it's suicidal to believe it's not) then, it's past time for us to take our contribution seriously and reduce our carbon footprint in our daily lives. Literally, walk the walk.
Hello DoryMan!
ReplyDeleteI am also Cascadian (Deer Harbor, Orcas Island) and just found your blog via TriloBoat. I have also followed JMG for many, many years and until he put up the paywall, Dimitri Orlov (though I still check in with Quidnon periodically).
Your posting of the excellent Gandhi quotation definitely struck a chord with me, surrounded as I am by well-meaning but oh-so-comfortable, upper middle class, liberal retirees. Why EVERYONE should be forced to buy only fair trade, shade grown, sustainably harvested, women owned, LGBTQ friendly, de-colonial coffee beans! Don't you agree? And until you've toured Machu Pichu and done ayahuasca with a REAL ayahuascero (and racked up all those air-miles, spewing carbon dioxide every inch of the way) why you really shouldn't talk about it polite company... Guess I'm a little bit disgusted with the hypocrisy epidemic of late; sorry!
My biggest angst comes from all these retirees (most of whom are getting more per year than I ever made in my best years) proclaiming how if we just switch to 'green power' we will magically be able to keep all the luxuries and intermediary, labor saving devices that we are all accustomed to think is normal. And the worst part is most of them are wealthy enough (and old enough) that they probably will! But the rest of us will be thumping down the uneven back stairs of the end of empire and each tread is likely to be just that much less 'comfortable' or safe... However, on a brighter note, there are many young hippie kids around who see right through their elder's BS and some are even interested in learning the hands on building and farming skills that I can offer, so I am cautiously hopeful for the future, at least on Orcas and Cascadia in general. Especially if we get the 9.0 subduction zone quake and Tsunami and are forced to re-imagine this region before we are out of resources to work with. Anyway, I hope that 2019 is better than expected and that you are happy and well,
All the best,
Ken
With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
ReplyDeleteAnd with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd--
I came like Water, and like Wind I go.
Might be better to pressure large energy consumers (Google, state gov, etc) to purchase only renewable sourced electricity
ReplyDeletePlease make it so, pwax.
ReplyDelete